Friday, July 29, 2016

Fav's for July...it's all about the foliage (of course)

Those of you who have visited in person, or pay close attention to my photos, may have noticed our house only has two windows that look out on the back garden, and those are in the very corners of the house. When deciding whether or not to make an offer on the property that fact was almost a deal breaker for me, so much so we discussed putting in french doors off the bedroom. That hasn't yet happened (nor has the dishwasher installation) so in order to see the back garden I have to go into the very corner of the house and peer out the window. I do this every morning while I'm making the bed. This Asarum maximum 'Ling Ling' is one of the first things I see as my eyes sweep from left to right. Only recently has it bulked up enough to make me pause to appreciate it.

I have another, but this is what it currently looks like...

There was no cute little panda face flower this spring, but that's okay...maybe next year (if you've never seen the flower there are photos here). Meanwhile I am appreciative of the lovely green on green foliage.

Asarum maximum 'Ling Ling' is hardy in USDA Zones 7-9 and will eventually spread to a patch about a foot wide. It prefers a shady location with even moisture.

I previously wrote about how thrilled I was to have Canna 'Cleopatra' in my garden. Well it's since taken things up a notch by putting up a bloomspike, a striped bloomspike...

And the stripes continue right on up to the flowers, I can't wait to see what they look like!

Canna 'Cleopatra' is hardy in Zones 7-10, but of course the tubers can be dug and overwintered indoors in cooler climates. In my experience all Canna do best in full sun and with regular water. They'll grow in part shade and with a lax watering schedule, but not as robustly.

Morina longifolia was given to me last fall by Allison (aka Bonney Lassie). Although it has pink flowers Allison cleverly talked me into taking this plant by playing up the fact those leaves are very spiky.

And she's right, I went to pull a yellowing leaf for these photos (sans gloves) and let loose a nasty four letter word. I should know better!

My plant hasn't flowered yet (see Allison's Bloomday post from July 2014 for a photo, about halfway down the page) which I don't mind...after all it is all about the foliage!

Morina longifolia is hardy in Zones 6-9 and prefers sun and regular water, eventually reaching 24"-36" tall (bloom included I'm assuming) and 18" wide. Dancing Oaks Nursery claims the foliage is aromatic but I'm not rubbing it to find out.

It's hard to tell just how big it's gotten so here's my iPhone for scale. It measures 31" from tip to painful tip. I think the mailman (who walks by it everyday) is going to have to change his route soon.

I love the delicate black outline on each leaf, as well as that powdery blue color which is the hallmark of the 'Frosty Blue' selction (a Cistus Nursery introduction).

For comparison here is the "plain old" Agave ovatifolia. Still fabulous, but not blue.

Agave ovatifolia 'Frosty Blue' is hardy in Zones 7-11 (as long as kept dry = great drainage) and loves sun, heat and regular water to grow big — but only in the summertime. Reports are it can reach 6-8 feet wide, I would have scoffed that being possible in my climate but it does appear to be on its way.

Since we're on the subject of Agaves I thought this worth sharing. Check out my furthest reaching pup from an Agave parryi 'J.C. Raulston' (previously fav'd here)...

No not that one up at the top of the frame, that's another plant. I mean that little baby the arrow is pointing at below. It's two feet from one plant and two and a half from the other. For some reason that makes me really happy. Agaves be a travelin!

Finally I'll wrap up this month-end look at my favorites with a photo of my Trachycarpus fortunei, because I now know it's a girl! One, or both (?!) of the neighbor's two trees are the proud fathers of my first batch of palm seeds.

So now it's your turn, what's looking amazing in your garden this July?

19 comments:

It's great to see the Morina thriving in your garden. It self-sows, but if you cut off the nasty pink flowers, of course, you won't get any babies. I have at least one more in my garden that I might give away if I ever get around to redoing that area of the garden. Then again, I might just move it into the back as a raccoon deterrent. I'm so jealous of your whale's tongue Agaves. I tried one outside and it didn't survive the winter. Maybe I'll try one again in a pot. Gosh, that Cleopatra Canna is gorgeous too. Even the flower spike is striped, that is so cool.

There's a little too much beauty going on in this post. Ling Ling is a star: subtle green-on green is awesome. Cleopatra looks amazing. The candy-striping on the bloom spike is the best a chimera has to offer. My bargain Cleopatras look to have both green and purple, but still too small to tell if they'll be nice. I hope to have something decent before they freeze....That frosty blue A. ovatifolia is hands-down my favorite: such structure and color! Wow. Thanks for dropping the phone in for scale. Hope you didn't poke an eye out retrieving it. :)

I believe I salivated over that Canna earlier but maybe it's time for me to break down an buy at least one plant that needs regular water! I almost featured my own Agave ovatifolia this month as it's no longer buried behind a huge clump of Hairy Canary Clover but I figured I'll need something to show off in August when the rest of the garden reaches its lowest point. Most of this month's favorites are retreads but good ones: http://krispgarden.blogspot.com/2016/07/july-favorites.html

Congrats on the baby Agaves. :) Your description of your view out into the garden reminds me of my own views and rituals. I can't see the best part of the garden from the bedroom, but I can from the kitchen window and the sunroom. I get the binocs out multiple times a day to view the plants and animals and how things are progressing. What a great idea to show the phone for scale, and I love the 'Frosty Blue' Agave!

Ha, takes a gardener to care about windows because it makes for views of the garden. But you have so much out there worth looking at. Your Cleopatra is gorgeous. We have the no-frost climate for those, but not the water.

Shocking I know, but the ovatifolia is my favorite. I went out and measured mine--29". It's been slow because of not getting much water.

No real favorite in my garden for July or maybe they are all favorites this month, because they've survived two weeks of horrible hot weather--so they're all heroes!

Frosty Blue looks fabulous :) As does that Canna! I'm admiring your ability to create a garden you can hardly see from indoors. My first garden suffered badly from the fact I could only view it from two second-storey windows, so I'm seriously impressed!Afraid I'm going with flower color for this month's favorite, the obvious one here in Arizona...: https://smallsunnygarden.blogspot.com/2016/07/a-favorite-for-july-caesalpinia.html